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GH3 user reviews and opinions
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  • @joesiv

    Which one is the Blackmagic camera? =]

    Pretty obvious which one it is for me, but I'm curious since which one you think it is?

    MarkIII sticks out horribly...

  • Sure. I'll play. Although I've never shot a movie in my life, have no professional training or experience whatsoever, have only a brief experience with a hacked GH2...

    ... and even though I only watched the compressed vimeo file on crappy laptop screen in the smallest size...

    ... BMCC still sticks out like a shiny object from a pile of mud.

    Doesn't that tell you something?

    (btw my guess is that's it's the first cam used in the takes)

  • C1: GH2, C2: 5D MK II, C3: GH3, C4: BMC, and I think - all the camera are good for us

  • @duckpark

    It's pretty obvious to me, as well. Even on a compressed file.

    The GH2 and GH3 are harder to pick out, I'm going to say that GH2 is 4, but camera 3's not too bad.

    First is definitely Blackmagic... could see it without pixel-peeping... just consistently looks better every time even with the super crushed info... but if you need an obvious tell, then look at all the banding in Camera 4, the large chunks of noise in 3 and 4, oversharpening of 2 (Canon).

    Only area where I did have trouble was the first, the cameras not being set in the same place and soft focused for the majority of the time definitely skews perception.

    More interesting to me is that most people, even owners of their respective camera, can't even tell them apart. Guess it doesn't matter which tool for a lot.

  • please return to topic and for comparison do another topic because it will be part 2 and 3

  • I have to bite my tongue til tomorrow night, but the cadence issues, grades, framing, etc will all be revealed then. We actually forgot to cover the cadence issues in our discussion about what we liked and didn't like about the cams, but I'll be sure to mention it in the VO in Ep 2.

  • @shian, very interesting test. MY best guess is that Cam 1 is GH2, Cam 2 is 5D3, Cam 3 is GH3 and Cam 4 is BMCC. Actually i'm totally unsure about GH2 and GH3 they are so close, but pretty sure Cam 2 is 5D3.

    I think I could live with Gh2, GH3 or BMCC as a tool kit. Couldn't be as comfortable with 5D3 in the mix as I think it would be too obvious that it's a different camera. I'm only speculating on the one test so far. Perhaps I would change my mind after tests 2-4.

  • Noise of Camera2 says it is a Lumix.

  • @zapatas C2: I thought so too at first, but I then decided on the 5D MK III

  • @Butt, I agree that Cam 2 is the 5D3. For me every other cam was able to show the detail on the fine cheek hairs or as we call it the "Peach Fuzz" on the skin of the actors. It's a dead give away in terms of detail capability. You can sharpen all you want but you can't fake those tiny little hairs. Also you can see that it looks like some sharpening was applied to Cam 2 at least IMO.

    Seems to me that the GH2/3 can work great as a B cam to a BMC.

  • Using only the the best controlled and most revealing shot -- the lady's head turn --the worst of the bunch appears to be camera 2. 3 and 4 are similar, both with noticeable sharpening and similar highlight handling (not so great), and #1 appears to take the prize. So I'd hazard 1=BMC, 2=5D, 3=GH3, 4=GH2.

    Or will we all be proven idiots?

  • Not sure but I'm not a fan of #2. Sure hope that doesn't turn out to be a Pany!

  • If 2 ain't the canny i'll eat my panny...

  • Heck, the only thing i'm truly sure of is that I don't like Cam 2. I could easily live with 1, 3 or 4. I pretty much already knew I liked the look of the BMC and GH2/3 so that's no surprise. The only time I think it would be more obvious which is the BMC is a high dynamic shot that was not under controlled lighting. Otherwise I think you could do pretty well with either a GH2 or GH3.

  • @kholi, yes, I agree. As I was telling about my backround, I wanted to make a point that it's not just you professionals who can appreciate and pick out a great cinematic picture, it's also us mere hobbyists who see the difference very easily. At least some of us. So my point is this: even though a lot of people can't tell a GH camera and BMCC apart, there will always be people in the audience who can, and there will always be even more people who "just dig" the cinematic picture over the 8 bit one. And for these people you want to give your best. Even if the difference is a small one.

  • Got to the farm for the holidays and had a chance to work with some settings and slomo. Pretty much ultimate contrast conditions on the fly. 50mbs -4, -4, -2, -5 with gentle CC in FCPX, these settings graded really well.

  • @duckpark

    Probably the best post I've read on this site. That's what it's all about, man.

  • Wow what a difference watching this on my computer at home makes! But camera 4 clearly looks better, followed by camera 3. Now I can breath at ease lol. Thanks @shian for this test.

  • @jimagine, man that video looked great!!! It actually made me smile sitting in my den on a gloomy night here in Georgia. I must say that 20mm 1.7 looks crisp as HECK!

  • GH3 - 4cam it has wider DR, than 2 and 3 cam (mkIII and gh2), but not so good picture as 1 cam has

  • Gh3, 5dMk2, Gh2, BMC.

  • to me cam3 has most amount of fine detail, yet skin is "alive", rest of the cams show somewhat "dead" skin, unless the highlights were killed by taking off highlights in color correction.

    can easily make look cam3 like cam4, not vise versa.. to me is a winner, although cam1 holds highlights better, not shadows,

    Thanks @shian for this test. To me the latest segment shows "it all", no need to show the rest of your efforts, segments, specifically previous to that, why you didn't have 5mk3 in the latest segment, to save it's face? :)

    which profile have you used for GH2?

  • +1. C3 had the most detail but the worst DR. C2 had the worst noise.

  • 1) BMC 2) 5DIII 3) GH2 4) GH3